A CK-FMS Long Distance Success Story

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well and training smart (I know I always say that but I feel it is important to let all of you know that I care).

Today I wanted to present to you a CK-FMS Success Story that we achieved just recently. This individual contacted me after meeting me at CK-FMS and asked if I would be interested in providing him coaching and programming to improve his FMS score, get him out of pain and help him achieve some of his goals. The only problem was is he lives about 6 hours away and is unable to come at all for an FMS screen and visits to work on his programming.

At first I was going to turn him down and have him see someone locally, but since he is the only CK-FMS of his kind where he was there were no other options, plus I was assured by Master RKC, Brett Jones that this type of program can and will work if you use the Functional Movement Screen as your foundation for programming. So I took on the task of improving this person’s FMS.

Let me provide you a little background information on Corey (in his own words).

“I met Mark Snow at the CK-FMS in May of 2011. At the time I has just pulled out of the RKC Level II workshop and into the CK-FMS because I was experiencing pain from my workouts. I have a “nice healthy” case of scoliosis, and my overhead pressing was causing low back pain and numbness down my leg. After bombing my FMS (scoring an 11 at CK-FMS), and struggling with daily activities I decided only a fool trains himself. I asked Mark for help with a goal of moving better, feeling better, living pain free and a completion of the USSS snatch test.”

So we have established some goals below (this is the destination in our journey).

Next we needed to determine where we are currently at in our program (our starting point in our journey).

I had him video his FMS screen and send it to me to score. Its not that I didn’t think he would score his FMS well but I have seen a tendancy for individuals to pad their score a little by accident.

Here was his FMS score Day 1:

The good news is that he has already improved 2 points since CK-FMS by working on his lowest score at that time (Active Straight Leg Raise) this also improved his Rotary Stability from 1/1 to 2/2.

First step in developing the program is to remove the negatives. I asked Corey to provide me with a list of exercises/workouts that he is doing for 3 days and send it too me. Basically, Corey was doing A LOT of loaded upper body pushing activities and not enough upper body pulling activities. I wanted to take pressing, snatching and squatting off the table for a little while since they all were established at red lights in my mind.

So here was our first plan of action:

So with all of this knowledge in our corner I devised a workout plan (built the map). Please remember that I instructed Corey to constantly follow up with me and let me know how the workouts are going and to keep checking the baseline to make sure we are staying on track. Once the map has been built there doesn’t mean that we can’t take any detours and have to revise the map now and again.

We kept in contact and once Corey was able to complete the program (4 completed weeks of workouts) we rechecked vital FMS scores to make sure we were on track. Then I would revise our plan of action and from there establish the program for the the next 4 weeks.

I am very pleased to state that, for 4 months of training, Corey stayed the course and trusted the program and did not try to add anything additional to the program. He sent me every video that I asked for as I wanted to make sure the program was doing what it was designed to do. Here are his words on what he has accomplished throughout this time.

“It’s important to me that I see tangible improvement on paper. Keeping that in mind, my FMS score has improved to a 17. My get up has gone from a 32k max to an easy 40k max (I don’t have a heavier bell or I’d try it). My bottoms up clean and press is now an easy 24k. Intrestingly enough, I’m up 3lbs but down 2% bodyfat. And as far as nontangibles, I don’t hurt all the time now. My low back pain has subsided. The leg numbness is gone. And as a father… I can play with my 7 year old son pain free! “

“I need to say that everyone needs a coach. In my area I was the only RKC (pending Ck-FMS) and as a result I get a ton of questions about training programs. Dan John says: “”only the fool trains himself””, and for me that was spot on accurate. I need someone like Mark Snow to give me a path. That way I don’t think for myself and screw up. I needed an outside view and a professional application of the FMS to fix me and help me achieve the goals I have set for myself. As an RKC… I expect and demand a lot from myself, but Coach Snow provides a brilliant map. Without his Yoda-like skills, I’d still be hurting and nowhere near where I am. Mark is a perfect example of what it means to be a part of the RKC community. Thanks Coach!”

So there you have it. Determine you starting point, determine your destination, draw the map, and continue to re-evaluate the map and your baseline to see if you are going in the right direction. Even long distance, a lot of fantastic things can happen if you use the FMS as your baseline and re-evaluation tool.